After a nightmare flood in 1997, Fort Collins, Colorado, stepped up efforts to improve resilience in the face of extreme events--efforts that will also serve the community well if climate change leads to heavier rainstorms.
(video) Alabama grower Myron Johnson talks about how learning to use seasonal outlooks for rain and temperature has made his operation more resilient to swings in climate, including those triggered by El Niño.
In the Northeast, the amount of rain that came down in very heavy events increased by more than 70 percent between 1958 and 2010. A new law in New York requires state agencies to start thinking ahead about increases in extreme rain and other climate change risks.
Jacqueline Kozak Thiel, Hawaii's State Sustainability Coordinator, talks about the state's unique sustainability challenges and how the island chain is planning for climate change.
If mid-century projections of sea level rise prove true for New York City, four times as many people may be living in the 100-year floodplain than were previously estimated based only on observed changes.
In October 2003, a little-known think tank in the Department of Defense quietly released a report warning that climate change could happen so suddenly it could pose a major threat to our country's national security. Why was the Pentagon worried about abrupt climate change? Because new evidence from Greenland showed it had happened before.
Working with private companies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency uses precipitation data from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center as part of an insurance program for ranchers and those who grow hay or other livestock forage. This video describes how it works.
According to the 2009 National Climate Assessment, heavy downpours have increased in frequency and intensity during the last 50 years. Models predict that downpours will become still more more frequent and intense as greenhouse gas emissions and the planet’s temperature continue to rise.
Persistent cold temperatures in the Midwest this winter almost completely frozen over many of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) reported that 88 percent of the Great Lakes were frozen as of mid-February.
Water resources manager Laura Briefer describes how Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities is using climate information to help plan for the city’s future.
